The Report of the E-Learning Advisory Group March 2002

Exploring New Zealand’s E-Learning Opportunities

Challenges for the sector

An immediate pressure is that there are an increasing number of students who are emerging from the secondary sector with well-developed IT skills and an expectation that e-learning will be part of their tertiary education experience. This trend will obviously continue and represents a fundamental challenge for tertiary educators, many of whom still regard e-learning as a future phenomenon.

However the issues surrounding e-learning are complex and student expectations of e-learning are diverse. For example, most students will leave secondary school and still want a campus-based experience which is web-enhanced. But there will be some who might prefer or require a fully on-line learning experience.

In addition to school-leavers, there are growing numbers of adult learners who are much more likely to want access to learning on-line. In the lifelong learning context, these adult learners will always outnumber school-leavers and we must ensure that a range of learning options are available to them. In an age of lifelong learning where the Government is attempting to build a Knowledge Society, on-line learning offers the potential to greatly improve access to education by providing more flexible learning options.

However, there are considerable differences of opinion among academic staff about the potential of the new technology and whether it should be used to enhance existing teaching practice or to revolutionise it.

The Internet could be used simply to dispense information and course notes or it could be the platform for a teacher-led tutorial or an interactive experience which may not include academic staff directly at all. A wide range of quality is already evident in web-based courses overseas, ranging from information dumped on-line without any quality check to highly-supported interactive learning experiences.

We must also determine how we are going to develop and contextualise our own e-learning experience. There is likely to be a small New Zealand demand for high-profile overseas programmes but the needs of the vast majority of New Zealand learners will be best served by programmes that are tailored to our local needs, cultures and context. Failure to develop quality New Zealand e-learning programmes could result in the virtual recolonisation of our country via the Web. While these overall trends are clear, there is a lack of information about how the education market is likely to develop in the years ahead. For some students, elearning may be the ideal solution, for others it may be only part of the solution and for others again it may even represent a barrier to learning. Research and planning are required to address these issues.

It would be timely for TEC to support a project in scenario development to test some strategic options for the sector. For example, one future scenario might explore New Zealand developing e-learning in partnership with Australia; another might investigate using the Web as the dominant business strategy for the sector. Scenarios for different levels of collaboration could be developed, one with each institution acting alone as now, and one with a fullyintegrated approach that spans the sector. Such work enables focused strategies to be developed that will ensure we capitalise on our innovative capability, while ensuring we do not get locked into any system that cannot be readily adapted over time.

The Advisory Group recommends that future policy development be informed by development and evaluation of strategic options for e-learning, through use of tools such as scenario planning.
(Recommendation 1)

Meeting e-learner needs
While there are a host of challenges at the macro level, we must not lose sight of the needs of the learner. As with any programme of formal learning, our e-learning policies, procedures and student support need to be well-attuned to the needs of students. We need to be clear about the support we can realistically offer e-learners and how it can be accessed. It is likely that academic staff will have to play a greater support role.

Another set of issues relate to learners’ own motivations and attitudes. E-learning away from a campus demands that students are responsible for organising their own learning time and space and therefore the need for self-motivation and learning independence is greater. Prospective e-learners need to be well advised on this, and to have “Help Desk” assistance on technical matters as part of their educational service.

Students returning to study after a time away may also require help on how to structure their learning and access information. Further, people who are uncomfortable with technology will need to be assisted with guides, support and information about where they can get additional technical help.

All of these issues highlight the importance of good e-learning design that results in meaningful interaction and encourages depth of thought. Without these supports, there is a risk that e-learners will not be retained or that their learning experience will be an inferior one.

The economics of e-learning
There are also significant challenges in estimating the scale of investment which might be required to advance e-learning in New Zealand and what return this investment is likely to bring.

The development and delivery of e-learning opportunities will require quite different cost structures from those of conventional education. For example, conventional delivery requires a capital investment in land and buildings and modest investment in the development of courses with staff salaries being a significant cost.

E-learning, on the other hand, is likely to bring different financial demands. For example, the costs of developing courses and learning objects and infrastructure to support them are likely to be high. The costs however of transmitting information are

negligible. On-line administration and assessment could also bring efficiencies to current practice. Many existing institutions will find it difficult to fund the transition to on-line learning from their existing operational funding. On-line courseware and supporting infrastructure will require sizeable capital investment and those committed to campus-based options need also to maintain their investments in those assets.

The development of digital learning objects is another area that presents considerable financial challenges for New Zealand educators. Learning objects are expensive to develop and often have a limited shelf-life since they have to be updated to take account of new technologies. In a country of our size, collaboration between providers seems the sensible way forward.

Faced with these challenges, it is vital that the tertiary education sector be given assistance to develop a sound business approach to operating effectively in the new e-learning environment. This will enable them to reach an informed decision on whether, for example, they are able to develop content themselves or collaborate with others. It will also be necessary to ensure that large-scale investment will bring the benefits assumed. It would be unrealistic to expect each institution to undertake this research on its own.

The Advisory Group recommends that the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) commission a project to examine the cost structures required to support e-learning and promote business models that will assist institutions to make appropriate investments in the transition to e-learning. (Recommendation 1)

Technical and infrastructural issues
There are also technical and infrastructural challenges to surmount in making e-learning widely available. An obvious one is having sufficient bandwidth to enable learners to make use of all the opportunities associated with digital learning. At present, access is limited to 56K for many users.

The amount of technical support which learners are able to call on will also greatly affect their chances of success in e-learning. Institutions need to be clear about the support they can realistically offer e-learners and how it can be accessed. Most importantly, technical support needs to be made available to learners on the scale required.

The Advisory Group has identified that many tertiary education providers have already invested heavily in infrastructure to support their existing strategies and it is unlikely that the adoption of a single national technology platform will meet all their needs.

While institutions will continue to develop their own technical infrastructure, it is important that all institutions are able to obtain up-to-date independent advice on emerging technical standards. This is particularly important for small institutions.